THE decision of the Joint Task Force (JTF) codenamed Operation Pulo in the Niger Delta to levy barges, vessels and motorised boats under the guise of security document is being challenged ata Federal High Court, Port Harcourt.The applicant, Marine Equipment Owners and Leasing Association of Nigeria has filed a suit No FHC/PH/CS/304/2012, seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the JTF from harassing, arresting, detaining, impounding and preventing the association members from operating on the waterways in the Niger Delta and anywhere else on Nigeria waterways pending the determination of the substantive matter.The respondents in the suit are Brigadier General, Tukur Buratai (Commander of the JTF), Lieutenant Colonel, Onyema Nwachukwu (Media Coordinator JTF), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, National Inland Waterways Authority and the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Defence and Chief of Defence Staff.Counsel to the applicant, Ken Atsuwete, in the suit said the JTFwhich is a creation of the armed forces that is under the direct command and control of the Minister of Defence, does not have any mandate to register vessel, barges and motorised boats in the Niger Delta or anywhere else in NigeriaIn his 20 paragraphs affidavit in support of originating summons, Atsuwete said an advertisement by the JTF directing vessels, barges and motorised boats to register with the command and pay certain fees, is illegal and worrisome.He pointed out that the said publication was made without recourse to the law, especially when the Joint Task Force is not a creation of the law and is certainly not a legal personality with which NIMASA can collaborate, especially for the purpose of carrying out comprehensive security documentation and any kind of registration of vessels, barges and motorised boats in the Niger Delta.Atsuwete contended that NIMASA is the body specially established by law to carry out comprehensive security documentation, registration and certification of vessels , barges and motorised boats. According to him, this responsibility is mostly shared withNational Inland Waterways Authority and not the JTF.'In the said publication, the first and second respondent went beyond the provision of certain documents to state the amount of money that will be paid as charges and the first and second respondent's Joint Task Force's bank with account numbers into which such money for illegal charges will be paid into by the members of the applicant who are already registered with the third respondent and the fourth,' he said.The counsel who provided evidence of levies already paid to NIMASA and National waterways Authority by the applicant, stressed that the JTF's directive warning of stern penalty that any vessel, barge or motorised boat not registered by 10th July, 2012, will not be permitted to operate on the waterways in the Niger Delta, is an infringement of the constitutional rights of the applicant in so many ways.The applicant described as heartrending the failure of the Attorney General of the Federation to restrain the and direct the other respondents from untoward act for want of legality and legitimacy.He said: 'The said publication is a military decree that is at very huge variance with all the law relating to operation of marine vessels in Nigeria and such unlawful penalties amount to conduct of the first and second respondents that is short of self help and a call for anarchy and possiblebreakdown of law and order when the armed forces should be maintaining order'.Atsuwete said the suit had become imperative to preserve peace and sustain sanctity of the applicant members operations.According to him, already the JTF whose presence in the waterways in the Niger Delta is not only intimidating and indeed a threat to the applicant members legitimate businesses when there is no war in the waterways.
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